Mules or Guild Banks?

[mmcookies]

Okay, so I'm a packrat, and I'm faced with a dilemma.
With 5 accounts, now I can make more mules than ever, and item transfer is simple with a common guild bank.

But, I can also go with another setup where I have multiple guilds/guildbanks on my main account.
This way, if I ever cancel my 4 accounts I still have access to all my goodies on the main.

I think in the end I'll go with a hybrid solution, but I'm just wondering what kinds of mule/bank schemes you guys have tried, especially for the hardcore packrats.

[FunkStar]

Personally I have 7 separate characters for the stuff i just 'stock' and dont really use unless the rare occasion, and 1 guildbank with 5 tabs for the 'most' used stuff, enchanting primals, herbs, leather, etc

[moji]

mule. but I've stopped collecting junk, if it's not outland, or possibly useful in the near future, sell it. I really don't need to hang on to light leather or other such low level nonsense.

[accretion]

I have both a dedicated guild bank mule (4 tabs) and several other mules as well. I'd been using mules alone, but finally went to a guild bank for convenience. No regrets at all, in fact, I should probably consolidate my remaining mules into 2-3 separate guild banks because it's a lot easier than logging on individual toons.

[kadaan]

I have both a dedicated guild bank mule (4 tabs) and several other mules as well. I'd been using mules alone, but finally went to a guild bank for convenience. No regrets at all, in fact, I should probably consolidate my remaining mules into 2-3 separate guild banks because it's a lot easier than logging on individual toons.

^ This

I have one mule character on each account, all guilded with my team. One tab for generic tradegood stuff (elemental/essence/primal, mojo, spider silks, gems, etc,) one with 2 stacks of nearly every generic tradegood item (2 stacks of each herb, 2 of each enchanting material, 2 of each mining bar, just not cloth,) one for 'quest' item storage (STV pages, bijou/coins, scryer/aldor items, twilight texts, the five AD turnin items, etc,) and one tab for random gear (right now I have a bunch of fishing hooks, various BoE vanity items and pets, and 16slot bags for alts.)

Each mule is where I stockpile everything. One I mail everything I want to AH to, one for cloth, one for herbs, one for mining, one for leather. I have a 70 mage that is essentially my enchanting mat mule now. Most of the mules have all 16-slot bags and every bank slot purchased, I think the mining and leather mules are still missing 2. I try to only keep a few stacks of each low level item (like 5 stacks of light/medium/heavy/thick/rugged leather) and the rest of the space goes to the BC versions. The surplus go to mule #1 for AH purposes .

It all comes down to what you need it for. The guild bank is awesome for stuff you want to use. If you're skilling up tradegoods it's nice to have that guild bank to grab a gem, spider silk, heart of fire, or whatever off item you need. That way you don't have to log on a mule and be in the same place to trade the item. Mules are more for long-term storage to me.

[Gadzooks]

Both.

Put it this way:

Full bank slots for character, not including bag costs: 111G
Full guild bank tabs: 9000K+

Plus, with a guild bank, there's no hour wait for mailing items across accounts, which I *hate*.

THE biggest reason for a guild bank is "repair with guild funds".

I've found what works for me is to keep regularly accessed items in the Gbank - enchanting mats, rep items, cloth, and I dump gold there whenever a toon gets more than 20g. I have a small collection of BOE blues (cards, pally/shaman gear for when I level them), and all potions/scrolls/recipes/patterns. Dupes get AHed.

Leather, mining, JC, blacksmithing and engineering mats get stored in each toon's bank, which are maxed out, and I am slowly putting traveler's backpacks in all slots. (I don't buy bags, yet). My 62 druid skinner has so much leather it's not even funny, I'd fill a bank slot on that alone! I keep cloth in the Gbank, for toons to get for bandages, but no more than a 5 stacks at a time. I have a small fortune in Mageweave, but it's for bandage leveling, not selling.

I have a mule that stores low level mats and rep items for the Darkmoon Faire. I have stacks of vibrant plumes, armor kits, scorpid blood, etc... I'll probably sell them off, as by the time that gear gets useful, it'll be replaced. DMF rep was a grind to keep us busy before BC came out, after all.

I'm focused on 3 toons right now, so as they stop needing stuff that gets moved off the bank and onto mules and alts. I have stacks of cooking meat for new toons, and stacks and stacks of low level enchanting powders and essences. My lock is 1/4 of the way through level 57, and once I take him to outlands with the 62 druid and mage, the bank is going to be emptied to alts and mules, it's full right now! 4 bank slots, it used to feel like endless storage, lol. The 3 will fund the last bank slot, in time.

I'm a bit of a packrat, but have no problems selling off a portion of my stuff when space gets tight, I havent needed for cash in a while, and if I need more, I have a 70 ready to run dailies for more. I get rid of gear immediately, I got over that a while ago, I remember I held onto my hard-won rogue gear on my 70 forever, lol, even though it was useless. Vendoring my legit dropped Krohl Blade with Crusader *hurt*...until I got S1 swords.

I kind of miss the old days, when gear and goods were harder to come by, like that feeling of "I'm RICH!" when an arcane crystal popped up while mining. I love the massive amounts of stuff you can get now, but it's very easy-come, easy-go these days. Sell it or vendor it, and DE if you can when you upgrade. Anything pre-BC is going to be replaced fast, why bother getting the mats for the old high end made stuff, or going for Tier 1, when Outlands greens blow them out of the water? It's definitely a different game now. Don't get attached to anything, just get rid of it. Health pots used to be something you saved for special occasions, now I forget I have them, with always having a healer around. LOL. I have tons of mana pots sitting in the bank, who needs 'em?

I still havent tossed my rogue's ZG voodoo doll, though. I WILL bring her back there when I'm 5 boxing!

[Otlecs]

All of my teams are supported by their own banks plus a single guild bank with just two tabs.

And one of those tabs is over half empty.

If you need more than that, you should really take a long, hard, look at what you're holding onto.

I auction all of the common crafting materials (ore, cloth, enchanting mats, etc) and just buy it again if I ever need it for tradeskill grinding.

[Littleburst]

I auction all of the common crafting materials (ore, cloth, enchanting mats, etc) and just buy it again if I ever need it for tradeskill grinding.

That.

I only got 2 bankers i use and a load of others which i don't use. 1 in Booty bay and one in orgrimmar to transfer items fast between horde/alliance to make me some gold with both AH's

My old main a lvl 70 priest is my enchanting mats bank, toon2 of the shaman squad is an enchanter and has his bank full with more enchanting stuff. The other 3 toons don't have a proffesion yet. I got a guildbank for my bankers, but i hardly use it. I sell stuff or sent in to the char that's gonna the item.

[mmcookies]

The thing is, when I said that I'm a packrat, I really meant it.
I keep buttloads of stuff for no reason other than to know that I have it available.
(I don't do this IRL, thank god, but WoW is the one place where I let the packrat in me loose)

After reading the suggestions and doing some reality check,
I figure 4 fully tabbed guild banks is a reasonable compromise.

This'll be after the epic mounts of course, so it'll be a while XD
Thanks everyone for your inputs!

[Kyudo]

Just a quick tip here. I like to remain cost effective cos I'm tight :P

I'm hoarding herbs for a bit of price gouging come Wrath, and I've set up herb mule alts on various realms to do this. Instead of investing 10s or even 100s of gold in bank slots and expensive bags each alt gets only 2g sent to him. This 2g is enough to buy bank slots 2 and 3 (1g10), and 6 12 slot herb bags (from your friendly local herbalism shop), if you have the character slots free, this can be a very cost effective storage solution.

its sort of unfair that you can get such great value herb bags compared to other professions, enchanting, engineering, mining and gem bags are more expensive and are not so readily available for an L1 alt.